The Ear of the Queen
by Becca Stareyes
Summary: A tag-along on an overseas trade mission, Celena has an early morning conversation with Lady Betriz on the nature of Queen Sovereigns.


**Notes**

Written for the Ficathon Walks Into A Bar intoabar LJ

Celena tends to think in terms of King, Queen, etc., even if the Chalionese (and Ibran) terms are Roya, Royina, etc. So you'll see the same character referred to as, say, Royina Iselle and Queen Iselle, depending on whether it is Celena's thoughts, or someone speaking. Also, the language reference is because Cruse of Chalion has an obvious Spanish influence, and the one time we hear someone from Escaflowne speaking without translation, it's the VA speaking Portuguese. Hence, I assume the two languages are deceptively similar.

I don't know how intelligible this will be to people who only know one fandom, but I hope you'll give it a chance. (I now want to write Millerna and Iselle meeting, though.)

* * *

It was said that travel broadened the mind; Celena found it just introduced her to new people that needed a iced drink dropped down their backsides.

Going along on this trade mission had seemed a good idea at the time. King Dryden had returned with ideas of opening up Asturia's trade routes across the seas to places untouched by the Destiny War. And, merchant that he was, he had insisted on overseeing it himself. Queen Millerna had asked that he take Allen along as part of his honor guard, and Celena had positioned herself to attend.

She was beginning to believe she should have taken her chances alone in their echoing house. At first, learning a new language from Dryden's accounts had been interesting, but there was only so much stilted practice with the king, his assistants and Brother she could do. And the scenery was ocean and more ocean until they made landfall. At least the airship was faster than a boat would be.

When last Dryden had visited the Ibran Peninsula, one kingdom had been in the midst of a civil war between the king and his heir. Now, not only was the war settled, but another of the kings on the peninsula had died, leaving his half-sister on the throne. It made the tentative steps that the first expedition laid out look as flimsy as tissue.

Which meant busy days for the diplomats, and reason for the soldiers to guard things, but Celena was left with days exploring the palace of Chalion and nights attending various court functions and watching courtiers try to figure out what the lone woman in the party of foreigners was worth to them.

Celena had made a habit of rising early, unusual in a court full of evening entertainment where courtiers jockeyed for position under the eyes of the King and Queen. She had found a garden and was slowly - too damn slowly - laboring to read a book she had borrowed from the library.

"Excuse me?" Celena looked up, and tried to place the woman speaking to her. She was about Celena's own age, and dressed well enough to be one of the nobility, rather than the servants Celena saw hurrying to and fro. Celena knew she had seen her somewhere, but she was still learning the massive number of people who seemed to think they were important enough to hang around Chalion's court.

"What is it?" Celena said, in careful Chalionese. It wasn't terribly different than Gaean - perhaps a relic of Atlantis - but the differences and false friends tripped her up. She knew she sounded curt, but it probably would be forgiven as a necessity of learning.

"What are you reading?" the woman asked.

Celena turned the book over, flipping back to the title page. "A History of the Quadrene-Quintarian Wars." She had understood history, and war, and the rest was a reference to the local religions. Most of the books she could find were poetry or religious devotions, things Celena didn't expect to understand easily. War she knew.

But the woman was looking a bit puzzled, and said something in rapid Chalionese. Celena paused. "Pardon?" She hated being at the disadvantage here, and wished that Dryden had offered to fly whoever he needed back to Asturia with him. Then they could just speak Gaean like civilized people. But then, she'd probably be pushed to the sidelines, one more relative of a minor noble.

"An interesting choice," the woman said. Celena frowned, trying to figure if she was being insulted, but the woman continued speaking. "Something Asturia thinks will be useful?"

Celena shrugged. "Something I understood. Asturia has had war before."

"I'm sorry," the woman replied. "I haven't seen it myself. A skirmish was bad enough, and I have seen what it has done to my husband."

"Your husband?" Dammit. Celena tried to picture the woman in court dress, to place where she had seen her before.

"I'm Betriz dy Cazaril."

"Oh." Well, she felt foolish and forgetful. "The prime minister's wife." She remembered the prime minster, since half the party seemed to assume Lord dy Cazaril was the one pulling Queen Iselle's strings. Either that or her husband, or a distant father in law, sovereign to a neighboring country. Dryden, at least, had been willing to deal with Iselle herself - and Celena suspected it was because Iselle and Queen Millerna were two of a kind, unwilling to let husband or advisers hold their jesses, no matter how fond they might be of them.

"Indeed." Lady Betriz sat down next to her.

Celena glanced over. "You aren't trying ask me about our secret negotiations? Are you?" She could think of more colorful phrases - 'pressing me for information' being the tamest - but having to translate her thoughts kept things simple and well-mannered.

"Of course not," Lady Betriz said. "I was curious how Asturia came to have a Royina on the throne."

Royina. Queen. "The Roya, the king, he had three daughters," Celena said. "One married a foreign ruler, one refused to marry, and Millerna married Dryden. But..." How to explain Dryden? "Millerna and Dryden understand each other." She fumbled for words, trying to match her observations and what she had learned since she had come home to her foreign language skills. How Dryden was, as her brother put it, a romantic idiot constantly feeling unworthy of queen and kingdom... but Celena still liked him for knowing what he could bring to his marriage and the throne, and what his wife brought. And how Millerna had been learning to govern in Dryden's absences and had never been content to only be someone's decorative wife, and he would never try to take that from her.

But, Lady Betriz nodded. "The Royina Iselle is growing to understand her husband, and he her. Are you close to the Royina Millerna, Lady Celena?"

Celena shook her head. "Brother is closer to her." She didn't have much of a social life, partly from her own inclinations and partly from Brother's nursemaiding. Brother and Millerna had worked closely during the war, and there was always the rumors that they had been lovers, something that both took care to squash. It was one reason Brother was careful to veil his opinions of the King, lest someone assume it was more than the disapproval of the nobility or the military of a rich merchant's son.

"I see. But you are respected enough to come along on a trade mission with the Roya Dryden."

"Because of my brother. He's my only family," Celena answered. "The Royina Millerna asked my brother to protect her husband."

"Still," Lady Betriz pressed, "I would think that the Royina Millerna would have a female confidant. Iselle did. But, I suppose the Royina Millerna has sisters."

"A sister. Prin- Royesse Marlene is dead." And Millerna and Eries were decidedly unalike in temperament. Millerna might have gotten along with Hitomi, but the strange girl had gone back to her home. Celena considered this. She hadn't given much thought as to the queen's thoughts, but, from what she knew, she was surrounded by her advisers, sober men who had belonged to the old king. Most of whom made the same faces Brother did when Celena did something unladylike. Celena nodded. "When I return." I shall seek her out.


End file.
